For Windows 95/98 or Me users with lots of secrets there is AxCrypt, a free file encryption and compression program. This software is a great addition for any personal computer user to have.

Until this program came along, the only way to protect individual files or folders with a password in Windows 98 and Me was to buy additional software. As this is free there are not a lot of instructions but the program is simple to use. You use the software by right clicking with your mouse on a file and using the pop-up menu choice 'Encrypt'.

A word of advice however, I encrypted a few files on my machine and found that I could open them up just by double clicking on the file. Where was the protection? The file becomes protected only when I used the menu option "Clear passphrase memory". Then clicking on the file brought up a request for the password.

This is actually a good feature as once you are working on a number of files you don't want to have to continually put in a password to open them. Just remember to clear the passwords (you can set different ones for different files) when you have finished work. The software also allows you to password protect all the files in a folder with one command. Fantastic.

The ability to add password protection to files comes with Windows 2000 and Windows XP compression programs. AxCrypt, which also works with Windows 2000 and Windows XP, is available at http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net

The Opera browser has been updated to version 7.11. For those not in the know Opera is considered as the best Internet browser on the market today because it loads pages much faster than Netscape and Internet Explorer.

The browser also incorporates an innovative use of shortcut features using both the mouse and the keyboard. Opera has also developed a specific browser for your phone or PDA, allowing you to view pages much better on a small screen by lining up information in columns. Get it at www.opera.com.

Another piece of software listed as one of the top 25 downloads at Stroud's CWSApps is InoculateIT Personal Edition, a free virus scanner. I have not tested this one out but if you're too cheap to fork out the $12 a year to register for Norton Antivirus' updates this is the virus protector for you.

eMarketer estimates that Internet users in the US spend an average of 7.6 hours online per week. Estimates for how much time US Internet users spend online, on average, range from 261 hours to 702 hours per year. eMarketer's estimate, based on its analysis of all the relevant research data, stands at 394 hours per year, or 7.6 hours weekly.

Get your fix on some good Internet sites by visiting the 2003 Webby Awards site. Since its inception in 1996, The Webby Awards' mission is to serve as a snapshot in time of the state of the Internet through the annual awards for excellence. Two awards are given in each of the various categories one by a panel of experts, the other by ordinary people.

The usual suspects such as Amazon.com (award for commerce), PayPal (finance) and the BBC (news) are listed. Experienced surfers will find some refreshing surprises. I include Epitonic Radio http://epitonic.com/radio.jsp, which allows visitors to chose up to 500 music tracks from about 20 genres to listen to over the Internet.

Games addicts will like www.swirve.com (games), which offers free online card and sports games. You can play for free by yourself or you can make bets with other online players in competitions. HowStuffWorks (science) at www.howstuffworks.com is a great online directory for detailed answers about everything from home networking to scuba diving.

For children there is 3d&i, a new website that gets them talking about design and the visual world. It is a blogging site and has quite active discussion boards for nine to 12 year olds. The full list of sites and past years' winners is available at www.webbyawards.com.

Tech Tattle deals with issues in technology. Contact Ahmed at editor@offshoreon.com.